Interview mit
Byron King
Source: Brian Sylvester of
The Critical Metals Report
June 12, 2012
TCMR: You have called
Stans Energy Corp. (HRE:TSX.V) a "dealmaker." What is Stans doing today?
BK: I think Stans is much closer now to being a dealmaker than it was a couple of months ago. I check the news flow for Stans daily, because I think that deal could happen any day.
TCMR: Could that be an offtake partner?
BK: It could involve third-party funding, third-party joint venturing or offtake agreement. Stans has the capacity to do any or all of those. What makes me confident about Stans is the quality of its basic asset and the human skills the company has access to in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. If its asset and people were located anywhere else, Stans would already be the talk of the REE investment space. There's just a strong bias against the perceived political risk in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. To me, this sets Stans up as a strong contrarian play.
I believe the Russians are tired of being a one-trick economic pony, exporting oil and gas and not much else. They want to capitalize on the science and engineering skills of their people. In Kyrgyzstan, the political powers want to leverage whatever assets they can, and its REE play is a critical, world-class asset.
TCMR: Stans has a draft version of its prefeasibility study on its Kutessay II heavy rare earth element (HREE) project in Kyrgyzstan. Why has it not been published?
BK: My understanding is that Stans management wants to finalize the renewal of its license in Kyrgyzstan. Until then, there's no need to say anything that could make the license renewal more expensive.
TCMR: The prefeasibility study is expected to contain a larger resource based on recent drill results. What are investors looking for in the prefeasibility study: a larger resource or a clear path to extraction and separation of the different HREEs?
BK: A larger resource never hurts because it shows more overall value. But the markets are thinking and acting in a very short-term mode. Share buyers want to see deals with immediate consequences. The most important thing Stans, or any firm in the junior resource space can do right now, is show deals and progress with an immediate effect. That would include offtake deals and joint ventures that bring financing to the table.
TCMR: Is Stans any further along in figuring out its metallurgy?
BK: Yes, Stans has made excellent progress toward presenting a workable process from crushing the ore to separating out a sellable concentrate. Don't ever underestimate the Russians. Recall that that's what Napoleon did 200 years ago this year, and look where it got him.
http://www.theaureport.com/pub/na/13597
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